Battle of Shepherdstown

The Battle of Shepherdstown occurred in September 1862 when Union forces crossed the Potomac to attack the rear of the Confederate Army as it retreated from the Antietam battlefield.

The Battle of Shepherdstown began in the afternoon of September 19, 1862 when an artillery exchange began across Boteler’s Ford. The number of Union guns nearly doubled those on the Confederate side and, supported by infantry who were protected by the embankment of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, they disabled four southern field pieces. In the evening Union infantry crossed the river, causing the Confederates to withdraw much of their remaining artillery and its infantry support. The Union infantry was withdrawn after dark.

Early on September 20 Union infantry was again pushed across the river, some of whom retrieved the four disabled Confederate guns and brought them to the Maryland side. Ultimately, three Union brigades crossed the river and established positions on the heights overlooking the Potomac River in Virginia. Learning of the threat to the rear of his retreating army, Confederate General Robert E. Lee ordered Corps commander Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to send three divisions back toward the ford. A. P. Hill’s Light Division led the way and confronted the Union forces in the late morning. Outnumbered 2 to 1, the Union forces began to retreat back across the ford and over the top of the nearby mill dam, which spanned the river just above the ford. The 118^th Pennsylvania Infantry, known as the Corn Exchange Regiment because of its sponsorship by the Philadelphia Corn Exchange, and which was seeing its first combat, experienced a delay retreating from the bluffs because the order was not received through proper channels. The last to cross the river, it experienced heavy casualties that amounted to 40% of its strength.

The battle involved about 8,000 to 9,000 men and it lasted about four hours. Casualties on both sides amounted to almost 700 men. The Battle of Shepherdstown convinced both opposing generals that a further large-scale engagement was a risky endeavor. General Lee reconsidered plans he had made to re-cross the river at Williamsport, while Union General George B. McClellan broke off his pursuit and began to prepare for a lengthy campaign in Virginia.